The good, the bad and the polluted

Sorry to those of you that checked this already to when you found out that I hadn’t written anything yet. So far I haven’t really felt like writing, and to be honest I haven’t really done much. I’ve been in India for 6 days now, though it feels like much longer. Maybe time is going slow as I’m a little love sick, or maybe it’s because I’ve been here before and all the places are quite familiar to me. It does make the 5 months I spent in England seem like nothing at all, though when I was there it made India feel like a long time ago. I think changing places so dramatically different as rural or urban India, and the Cotswolds plays silly buggers on your perceptions of time and place!

So, so far I have spent a few days in Chennai, not doing much. I was hoping to be able to meet up with my Chennai friends, but no one was free to see me. Then I took a 8½ hour bus to the town where I lived for more than a year, Mayiladuthurai. It shouldn’t have taken this long, and would have taken only 6 hours if I went by private bus, but I opted for government bus, and managed to get on the one that takes the more scenic route. When I arrived to the town at almost 2am, Terry, the American guy I worked with before, was there too, in a hotel. He’d told me to wake him when I arrived. I then tried to spend the next 1½ hours getting Terry to stop talking so I could go to bed. He’s not very perceptive, so kept talking.

Next day I did a little filming around the town, with the camcorder I got for my b’day/Christmas, just to show the guys at home the place I used to live. Then with my friend Mani we took a scenic drive through the countryside and villages to a beach place called Teragum Badi. The Danes occupied Teragum Badi from 15 or 16 something, until l 8 something (apologies for my crap memory) and they built a fort there. It was a really nice day. It’s so picturesque in the Tamil Nadu countryside. It’s rice harvest season now, so along side of the road workers are separating the grains from the husks. The villages here are dead cute too as the houses are made from all natural materials. Walls are usually a mixture of cow dung and mud, and are often then plastered (with what, I don’t know) and painted a light green colour. Roofs are made from woven coconut palm leaves. You see lots of people (cows, chickens, dogs & goats) on the roads here, so it’s really nice just to be an observer of typical village life. It really was just what the doctor order, and it gave me my first day of actually being happy where I am.

A friend of mine had his 2nd daughter the previous day, so I went to visit him, his wife and new born at the hospital. The baby was cute, real small, but quite hairy. Not all too dissimilar to a baby chimp. Is it ok to say that!!? I wouldn’t but it’s true! It was good to catch up with my friend Raja though. We spent quite a lot of time together when I was last here. He’d confide in me. His first wife committed suicide just a few months before I met him, leaving him alone with their 6 year old daughter. Raja thought his life was over and that no one would want to marry him as he already has a child, but his parents found him a new wife (as custom here dictates is the correct and best thing to do) and shortly after their marriage she fell pregnant. I’m really so happy for him. I think it’s saved him from a life time of misery, drunkenness and anger towards God.

I’m now in a town called Tirchy (full name Tiruchirappalli) staying with my friends, the Brothers of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. They are a congregation of unmarried men that dedicate their lives to serving God through social work for the less fortunate. I met them last time I was here, and the Provincial Brother (the guy at the top of the hierarchy), Brother Augustine is kind to me and allows me to stay and eat with them whenever I am in town, or even in other towns where they have branches. The room I have here is better than any hotel I would be prepared to pay for, and the food ain’t bad either.

I’m here as I have a couple of on-going projects I initiated when I was last here, working in the female jail. An organization I met when I was pretending to be a website designer, called TNDWWS (Tamil Nadu Depressed Women Welfare Society – http://www.tndwws.org) has given HIV/AIDS education and awareness to lots of people across the state. I have been previously informed that Tamil Nadu has the fastest growing rate of new HIV/AIDS cases in the world, faster even than some country’s of Africa.

I had interest to work with female prisoners last time I was here as I feel for the Indian women. Life as a woman in a patriarchal developing place is not easy, especially when you’re not allowed to choose your husband. I thought I’d find lots of cases of murder inside the jail, by women that snap after taking so much abuse from husbands, in-laws and even their own sons. I didn’t think these women to be bad, or that they should be punished, already their life has been so crap. Prisons in India (like al government run institutions) receives little funding, and comfort is based on the amount you are able to bribe. As no woman in jail is wealthy (or otherwise she would have bribed the police, the court, the judge or witness so an not to be thrown inside) she is left to live in total unsanitary, squalor conditions.

Most women in jail are there for a short period, arrested as they were caught whoring (or more likely arrested as they wouldn’t pay the police man or put out). They don’t know what are STDs or that they are at such a high risk. So last time I was here I arranged that TNDWWS go to the prison every 15 days and encourage as many women as they could to sit and listen to a talk for a while, then have the opportunity for questions and one-to-one talks later. It’s been going on since May. I have mixed feelings about the project though, definitely it’s necessary but TNDWWS previously gave me no feedback about the project. It was only after continuous asking that I found out that 2 women have since tested positive, though they know no other work, so they continue whoring. The project still has a long way to go, and many other projects can come from it. Unfortunately at this time I only have funds sufficient to keep the education and awareness programme running for one year. Starting this month we will be entering the male prison, to do the same thing there. It’s the promiscuous sex-driven men that cause most of the problems here!

I have a meeting later today with the lady I employ (well kind of, I pay her expenses) so she can go to the prison and give yoga, meditation and counseling sessions to the women. They’re usually suffering some kind of mental anguish, as a lot of them are not actually guilty of their crimes, but have been accused and locked up anyway.

Tomorrow I go to the remote mountain region where the Paliyar tribe is living. I’ll write about that after I’m done. Maybe in 10 days or so.

But I guess it’s good to be back to working here again. Only my laptop decided to break as soon as I arrived, so I’m a little lost without it and unable to do as much as I planned. But I’m enjoying the time to read (am currently reading about Geldof in Africa – Chennai’s books on Africa are somewhat limited…) and get up at midday! I’m not enjoying the separation from Matt and the amount I have to spend on phone calls back to England! I guess the cheapness of this place kind of makes up for that. Hotels are no more than £3, dinner or lunch can be as cheap as 25p, and my 4 hour bus ride 2 days ago cost just 60p. I had a fresh water melon juice today, that was only 10p, though I didn’t check whether he blitzed it from the water melon that was already cut open, and crawling with flies, kept on top of the whole ones, I thought to show people the red of the inside. I potentially could get horribly sick. It was black with flies!

Just in case you’re wondering, yes, it’s hot, it’s south India!! It averages maybe 32 during the day, though always has a breeze, evenings are 20 ish. It’s ok for now, though it will rise to more than 40 in the coming months.

I still have no fixed plans, and am thinking to go to the Andaman Islands whilst I’m relatively close. It will mean taking a 60 hour boat ride, but I’ve heard it’s worth it.

I’ll keep you up to date when possible.

Hoping you’re all well
Love Ruth xx